Haiti orphans flown to the US

Wed 20 Jan 2010, 10:07 AM AEDT

More than 50 Haitian orphans have landed in the United States and were immediately taken for medical check-ups, hospital officials said.

Their orphanage in Port-au-Prince was run by two US sisters from Pennsylvania, Ali and Jaime McMutrie, who campaigned for days to get the group of 53 desperate children out of the devastated Caribbean nation.

Marc Lukasiak, a spokesman for the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, says most of the orphans were under the age of four and many were said to be suffering from dehydration and diarrhea.

Mr Lukasiak added it was too early to know their overall condition.

The children, most of whom were awaiting adoption by American families in a process that normally takes 18 months, arrived on a military transport plane accompanied by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, local television reported.

Some US families hoping to adopt the children welcomed the orphans at the airport.

US authorities gave the green light on Monday to allow Haitian orphans to enter the country legally so they could receive the care they needed in the wake of last Tuesday's 7.0 magnitude quake.

They also relaxed adoption rules so US parents adopting children from Haiti would not have to wait for final paperwork or passports from the Haitian Government.